Welcome to my site. Here you will find some of my published novels as well as synopses of those of my novels which, though finished, still need a final edit.
Here you will also find various of my short stories which I hope you enjoy.
I have also included some strange/funny incidents that have happened to me along the way that the reader might also find funny or strange. They are all true.
I published my first novel in 2010. It is called “Switched” and is what is categorized as speculative fiction. The theme of “Switched” might already have happened but for reasons that will become apparent when you read “Switched”, no one would want to admit to, or would even dare to admit to, what has happened to them, even if they could persuade anyone to listen to their tale of woe. “Switched” is 350 pages long and is available through Amazon both as a paperback as well as an ebook. It would make an enjoyable holiday read. You will find more information about it further into this site.
My next novel, “New Blood”, is the first of three novels about some of the cases Detective Inspector Kingdom of the Lothian and Borders Police Force has been called on to unravel. That the Lothians and Borders Police Force has now been amalgamated into Police Scotland is somewhat irrelevant and certainly does not detract from the actual stories. “New Blood” is a novel about the murder of an eminent citizen of Edinbugh whose body is found in an open park near the city centre. More information can be found deeper into the site.
New Blood is 430 pages long and is now available through Amazon both as a paperback and as an ebook.
My third book is the first of a trilogy and covers the first three years in the lives of eleven families who take themselves off to the remote archipelago of St Kilda, which is located about 100 miles off the north west coast of Scotland. Its title is, The St Kilda Chronicles – Book 1, Escape. The reason the families leave the mainland of the UK is because a world-wide pandemic has decimated national economies worldwide, and life, as they previously knew it, is in terminal decline. Every day, thousands of people are dying from the pandemic and from other diseases that now run unchecked through society, or from gratuitous violence and, naturally, the families are desperate to escape the horrors they now find all around them.
St Kilda is very remote and once gave home to more than one hundred souls. Life there would be hard, but would certainly be better than life on the mainland.
Just getting there, however, proves to be difficult and their first three years on the island are full of problems and dangers. The refugees need plenty of courage and luck just to survive. Their leader also discovers that the contributions of some of the new islanders are less than beneficial to the continuing success of the project.
The St Kilda Chronicles – Book 1, Escape. is 460 pages long and is now available through Amazon both as a paperback and as an ebook.
My fourth novel, the second book in the Inspector Kingdom series, is called The Festival Murders. This time, Ralph Kingdom is called to investigate two apparently linked deaths occurring in or near the hotel that is being used by performers and other members of the Shakespearean play that is running to great acclaim in that year’s Edinburgh Festival. At the same time, a nasty group of animal rights activists is threatening to hold to ransom the important 3-Day Event that Kingdom’s partner, Sara Bakewell, is organizing, . Not only will unraveling the twin problems prove to be difficult, Kingdom’s relationship with Sara is also severely tested.
The Festival Murders is available both as a paperback and as an eBook from Amazon.
The third novel in the Inspector Kingdom series, The Ancrum Mystery , or The Strange Death of Annabelle Ferguson, will be available soon.
My fifth book, the second book in the St Kilda trilogy is Book 2, Hard Times and is also available on Amazon both as a paperback and an ebook. It is 364 pages long.
In Book 2, ten years have elapsed since the settlers first arrived on St Kilda and, fortunately, through a mixture of good health care and good luck there have been many new babies but no further casualties in the community. But all that is about to change when one young husband is brutally murdered. Then, within days of the first death, another occurs. All the evidence to the first death points to one of the islanders who doesn’t even bother to deny the accusation – but is he really guilty? Meanwhile, life goes one while the Minister grows in importance to the community – but whose interest does he have at heart? Unfortunately, the death toll continues to mount just as one young lady finds love.
My sixth novel, The St Kilda Chronicles – Book 3, Escape begins 130 years after the settlers first arrived on St KIlda. In the intervening years, their place of refuge has become their prison and the current Minister and his brother now rule like feudal lords. The rest of the villagers are living miserable existences while the Minister and his cronies live off the best that is available. They have no reason to want to leave. But the sad truth is, their seeds are losing their potency resulting in bad harvests and near starvation for the general islanders who are now completely illiterate. They have no books and they lack the knowledge to make a boat. Indeed, why would they even need a boat when they believe their tiny island is the only safe place on earth, a belief the Minister and all those many Ministers before him, are happy to reinforce whenever possible. But a chance discovery suddenly transforms their lives and particularly that of Kitti, the young girl who makes the discovery.
Book 3 is 466 pages long and is available both as a paperback and an ebook through Amazon.
I hope you enjoy my site and will be tempted to read some of my books.
Bernard Gallivan
February 2021